Love it, love it, love it. My cousin Nancy is friends with a couple of the writers and was touting it from the moment it came out. It was amazing how Lielie Nielsen was able to totally transform his career from a dull co-star to a deadpan comedy icon.
Disney did the same thing with The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh where things are up-in-the-air at the end of the series. It was hilarious then and can still make me laugh today, even when I know which jokes are coming.
Dull and boring. In any case, I honestly don't understand the appeal of Airplane! The humor they purport to offer seems so haphazard and insanely broad; I get the feeling that the filmmakers try to win us over by sheer volume of gags rather than through any form of quality. Almost none of it strikes me as clever, or thought-out or inspired; it just seems dopey and pedestrian.
Maybe it's a mistake for me to try to review movies like Airplane! Perhaps it's the same as assigning an opera buff to review a country album; the latter may be an excellent piece of work, but if the critic despises the genre, it's quite unlikely he'll be able to accurately assess the product. I don't think my situation is that extreme. I like some movies that many consider stupid, such as things like Billy Madison. However, I see a spark of creativity in those films, whereas Airplane!
This was a consistently mediocre transfer with a number of problems. Sharpness usually seemed decent to good. I noticed no issues with shimmering or jagged edges, and edge enhancement appeared to be absent.
Print flaws were a bigger problem. The movie demonstrated moderately consistent examples of specks and grit along with some nicks, hairs and blotches. At times it offered decent cleanliness, but it became awfully messy on other occasions. Colors generally were fairly flat and without much life or vibrancy. They could seem somewhat runny at times, but generally they were acceptable other than their blandness.
Black levels appeared reasonably deep and dark, but contrast was a little weak and shadow detail came across as excessively heavy much of the time.
Overall, the image of Airplane looked very drab. Flawed but better was the Dolby Digital 5. This remixed the movie's original monaural audio. Except for the music, the soundfield stayed pretty firmly anchored in the center channel.
The score spread nicely across the forward spectrum and provided solid stereo sound, and the surrounds also reinforced the music in a light but appropriate manner. All dialogue seemed to come from the center, and the vast majority of the effects emanated from that channel as well.
On a couple of occasions, I heard some effects pop up from the sides, and I even heard one or two times where split surrounds appeared, such as when the plane landed at the end. However, the soundfield remained modest and it worked well for the film. Audio quality seemed erratic. Dialogue displayed a fair amount of problems. At times speech sounded reasonably natural and distinct, but the lines often appeared edgy and harsh, with some concerns related to intelligibility. Effects displayed some similar concerns, as louder scenes could be somewhat rough or distorted.
Even watching relatively recent films like Scary Movie today versus a couple years ago yields a far different, less satisfying viewing. Many of the characterizations and jokes are simply too old and stale.
Sure, when the passenger says that her husband "never vomits twice at home," she's referring to a '70s coffee commercial. But it is set-up in the film in a way that makes it still funny today. Almost all the references to old movies and commercials are dated, but they somehow still pack enough energy to make modern audiences laugh. But if the jokes are still fresh, some of the portrayals aren't. This doesn't happen often, but there are a handful of racially insensitive moments in the film. Yes, yes, it's a comedy.
But if you take offense at out-of-date stereotypes of African-Americans, Asians, or South Asians, you might have a couple of uncomfortable moments here. There aren't many, and they aren't severe, but they're still notable exceptions to what is otherwise a thoroughly strong film. That aside, Airplane! It's not the smartest film ever made, nor does it have a helpful moral message about society; it doesn't need one.
It's just a funny movie, the style of which inspired dozens of filmmakers and writers working today. Without Airplane! Okay, perhaps the last one isn't the best example of the film's influence. Regardless, this is one of the great comedies ever made. Viewers will also appreciate even the most obscure references are revealed in this set's amazing features. While not the most packed disc to come out on DVD in the past few weeks, the features on Airplane!
Score: 9 out of 10 The Video Airplane! Overall, Paramount did the best job it could with this low-budget film. Colors are well-balanced and surprisingly clean. And, while a lot of noise is present on the transfer, it never gets in the way of the humor. At the same time, tons of film artifacts are noticeable in almost every scene and can sometimes be distracting reminders of the film's age.
Score: 5 out of 10 The Audio The movie is presented in English 5. Although there are two different English tracks, those of us with great audio set-ups won't notice any major benefits. There simply isn't much in terms of surround here, understandable in terms of s audio technology, but still disappointing that they didn't try much remixing or remastering.
Regardless, sound is acceptable, even if it features a bit of white noise in the background. Subtitles are also available in English and Spanish for the hearing impaired. Score: 5 out of 10 The Extras The three features on Airplane!
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